Vipingo: InReturn's latest investment to have strong financial and social returns

Vipingo. Technology start-up? M-banking platform? I-Phone app? Far from it. Vipingo is in fact a small coastal town 50km North of Mombasa, and, thanks to an investment from InReturn, has now given its name to Vipingo Stone Mining, a company that produces machine cut coral stones for the local construction industry. In October, InReturn Capital closed a deal to finance the company's first quarry in partnership with a strong team comprised of seasoned Kenyan entrepreneurs.

The investment will be used for the purchase of equipment and working capital and is structured as a collateralized loan with a revenue sharing component. InReturn's team, including Jacana's Expert Mentors, has worked closely with the entrepreneurs in opening up the quarry as well as providing them with advice on strategy, business modeling, contracting and legal issues.

The extractive industry may not be the first place social investors tend to look for impact, but the Vipingo entrepreneurs are excited about working with the InReturn team to buck the trend. The livelihoods of the local communities have historically had a strong reliance on manual stone quarrying, with roughly 60% of the population having no formal employment and surviving on less than 1 Euro per day. The investment will lead to substantial job creation, with around 200 households expected to benefit.

Not only is Vipingo committed to ensuring that labour conditions will surpass domestic labour and environmental regulations to comply with international standards, but it also has a strong focus on working with the local community to ensure sustainability of both the environment and livelihoods. To this effect, Vipingo is assisting the owners of exhausted quarry sites to build fresh water ponds in which they can start crayfish farming operations, as well as investing in a tree nursery to regenerate other exhausted quarry sites.

These projects are part of the social plan agreed between Vipingo and InReturn, who will be monitoring these efforts as part of the investment management process, and are formally linked to returns. We believe that Vipingo will go on to demonstrate Jacana's theory that, when coupled with the right commitment to corporate social responsibility, any small enterprise can be a social impact business.

www.vipingostonemining.com

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